In a decree of September 5th 1793, the revolutionary government of France announced the implementation of harsh measures against those considered to be "enemies of the revolution" under the slogan "terror is the order of the day." For the next nine months, this "reign of terror" orchestrated by Maximilien Robespierre's Committee of Public Safety resulted in the deaths of seventeen thousand mainly innocent people. Over a century later, Joseph Stalin announced his own decree of terror that plunged an entire country into a paroxysm of pain and misery. An examination of Stalin's purges reveals the development of a weapon that in any society would have effects not amenable to control. For when capricious individuals are free to arrest, torture, exile and murder citizens, the only results are irrational terror, alienation and the eventual disintegration of important social institutions.

The two major economic policy makers of the USSR, ...

Kliment Voroshilov, Vyacheslav Molotov, Stalin and...

Stalin, (Nikolai Yezhov, censored) and Molotow at ...

Moreover, this instrument of extraordinary coercive force, becomes a destructive power indiscriminately attacking society, encouraging confusion, inefficiency and hysteria as much as the increased production or effort demonstrated by Stalin's Russia.

The use of terror as a means of social and political control had first been advocated by Lenin and the Bolsheviks soon after they acquired power in 1917. Lenin had no doubt

that intimidation and reprisals were legitimate instruments in the fight to establish

socialism. To achieve his objective, Lenin established the first Communist secret police within the first six weeks of seizing power which became the most formidable political

polices force that had yet appeared. It was called the Cheka (Extraordinary Commission for the Suppression of Counterrevolution, Sabotage and Speculation) and its name indicated Lenin's intended victims and view of the assemblage as a temporary emergency organization. Before long the Cheka, became a law unto...

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'In 1293 Stalin had been on the point of political ruin... six years later he would be in unchallenged power' (Conquest). To see how such a dramatic change, and such an unpredictable defeat of Trotsky, happen you have to look at key figure's personalities, political skill, and or mistakes. You ...

�PAGE � �PAGE �1� GRADE: B- Joseph Stalin was domestically known as the father of Soviet Russia, even if is policies had led to the deaths of millions of Soviet citizens. His economic policies served the Russian people well, by some accounts. Nevertheless, because of Stalin's paranoia, narcissism, ...

Wars have been fought over many matters which may seem trivial to some yet have enough importance to others that they would be willing to die for the nationalistic goals of their leaders. The validity of this statement may not be present in every war but was certainly exercised in the First World ...

... STALIN'S TERROR THE PURGES (Stalin Takes Total Control) 1.Secret police - The Cheka became OGPU in 1924/ became NKVD in 1934. 2. The First Purges 1930-1933 - anyone who opposed industrialisation or who opposed collectivisation. 3. The Great Purges 1934-1939 - triggered by murder of ...

... Great Purge, is an extremely controversial, complex subject. The events that occurred between during this time period resulted in the total destruction of the Leninist Party. Ultimately, Joseph Stalin executed millions of Russians in order to pursue his ideal government ...

... Lenin. He had learnt from Lenin the art of mass terror, (which Stalin would later apply in his purges in the 30's), and political chicanery and cunning which enabled Lenin to kill off his rivals, (such as the Social Revolutionary's), or heinous acts like the murder of ...

... Lenin etc. Or the idea that brutal dictators like Stalin are a guaranteed product of history in Russia (powerful men such as Ivan the terrible and Peter the Great have ruled Russia in the past but was it something about them or the government of ...

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